3/4th of IoT projects failing globally: Cisco

Government and enterprises across the globe are rolling out Internet of Things (IoT) projects but almost three-fourths of them fail, impacted by factors like culture and leadership, according to US tech giant Cisco.

In a report, Cisco said that only 26 per cent of the companies it surveyed have said that they have had an IoT initiative that they considered a complete success. About 60 per cent of IoT initiatives get stalled at the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage.

IoT refers to a network of devices and sensors connected to the Internet and data collected from these helps make business and operational decisions. For example, with IoT, street lights will automatically switch off when they sense there is no traffic on the roads and consequently save power.

IoT is the backbone of many smart city and digitisation projects. Global market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that the global installed base of IoT endpoints will grow from 14.9 billion at the end of 2016 to more than 82 billion in 2025. It s not for lack of trying. But there are plenty of things we can do to get more projects out of pilot and to complete success, Cisco Senior Vice President and General Manager (IoT and Applications) Rowan Trollope said here.

The high rate of failure, however, has not dissuaded firms from investing in IoT projects. The study found 64 per cent of those surveyed saying the learnings from stalled or failed IoT initiatives have helped accelerate their organisation s investment in IoT. The study surveyed 1,845 IT and business decision-makers engaged with IoT projects in the US, the UK, and India across industries like manufacturing, local government, retail, energy, transportation, and healthcare.

The human factor matters. Three of the four top factors behind successful IoT projects had to do with people and relationships. It added that respondents cited relationship between IT and the business side, partnerships and having a technology- focused culture at the organisation as key factors for success of IoT projects.